Red Devon Bulls are docile, fertile, and ready to breed adult cows. Moderate framed, these bulls will be 1900 to 2100 lbs at adult size. Devons add a degree of docility to every breed in their offspring, and their F1 cross calves easily reach a grass fed finish at 20-24 months of age.

Bulls will be fertility tested upon receipt of a $250 deposit (Good to Excellent Bull Soundness Test required for sale).

“Andy” with our Red Devon bull herd and steers, summer 2015. Andy was fed nothing but the forage he himself gathered for the first three years of his life. Extremely hardy, well balanced, with good feet, excellent top line and conformation.

4 year old RED GALLOWAY bull, developed by Joel Jackson of Jackson Trailblazer Ranch in Terry, MT. Docile, fertile, extremely easy keeping. Moderate framed, intelligent, cooperative.
We used him for one year with our Devon/Angus females for F2 terminal cross calves. We have decided to end that program, so “Andy” needs a new home.

Moderate in frame, and excellent match for a grass fed beef program, or for anyone wishing for moderate framed calves with easy maintenance requirements. $3500.

I recently read an article by Kit Pharo about parasites, specifically horn flies, and cattle’s resistance to them. I quote Kit, below:

“Horn flies have an anti-coagulate factor in their saliva that prevents blood clotting while some breeds, such as Brahman, are much more resistant to horn flies. They have three times the number of hairs per unit of surface area than do most British and Continental breeds.”

“Within a breed, some individuals are much more resistant to horn flies than others.”

“Smaller framed animals have significantly fewer flies than larger framed animals within the same breed. Cattle of the same breed seem to be born with approximately the same numbers of hairs. When you enlarge the frame size, you have fewer hairs per square inch. The bigger the animal, the greater the distance between hairs.”

“Every hair follicle has two sebaceous glands that secrete a substance that reflects sunlight (heat) and provides a natural resistance to insects. The more hairs, the more secretion. Cattle that have a very slick and shiny summer hair coat seldom have much in the way of fly problems.

they are feeding. Some beef animals have a higher level of a natural chemical called thrombin that works to counteract the fly’s anti-coagulate. Simply by selecting for animals that have a higher level of thrombin in their blood, we can effectively select for horn fly resistance.

“Bulls, because of their testosterone, will typically have two to four times more flies than cows. Flies are attracted to testosterone.”

SABO RANCH has always selected for Devon cattle that show the best possible resistance to parasites. Just as plants send out pheromone messages to plant predators when they are sick and need to be returned to the soil, so do animals.

Have you ever patted a dog that eats what it should be eating, raw meat? Its fur is shiny, soft, and free of excess oils. A dog fed conventional grain-based dry food often has a lot of oil and odor- that’s the skin, the animal’s largest organ, trying desperately to rid the dog’s body of the toxins in the conventional dog food.

We never save bulls or cows that have been doctored as young animals into the registered Devon breeding pool. Only bulls that have been healthy all their lives are selected as herd bulls at Sabo Ranch.

Sabo Ranch registered Devon breeding stock is selected only from the healthiest cattle in the herd. That ability to resist Nature’s continued efforts at “early digestion back to the bacteria of the soil” is a hallmark of Sabo Ranch Devons, and passes along easily to the next generation of calves.

July 1 we turn in our Devon bulls. We’re trying some different approaches this year.

1). ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION with GOWAN ROSS GENTLEMAN and VIXDEVONS JURASSIC, two top quality Devon bulls from Australia. We are excited to start our breeding program with these incredible bulls from two award winning Devon herds who have been selecting for both maternal traits of longevity udders, feet, and mothering, and commercial traits for gourmet Devon beef. The best of both worlds!

Gowan Ross GENTLEMAN G82(P)

Gentleman’s dam, Gowan Ross Gentle Z69(P)

Vix Lupin J76(P), Jurassic’s dam.

A Gentleman daughter. Stocky and beautiful

2). DEVON EMBRYOS into 14 of our commercial cows, with Devon bulls following for them and the remainder of our commercial cows for strong Devon influenced calves for 2017. Embryos are sired by Tapuwae 635 and Te Maewa OBAN, both New Zealand bulls selected for excellent udders, mothering, and easy weight gain.

As we enjoy the green grass, the strong Devon and commercial calves, and start to plan for our 2016 breeding season, we agree with Kit Pharo’s words, here. Our breeding choices in the next 3 weeks affect our lives for years to come. What an exciting time!

“It is becoming more and more evident that we are entering a new era in beef production. We are at a major tipping point. What has worked so well for the last 50 years will NOT work for the next 50 years. This excites me! It will provide some with an opportunity to increase profitability – even with much lower calf prices. Although all cow-calf producers have the same opportunity to achieve long-term success, most won’t change a thing until they are forced to. Please remember… your success, or lack thereof, will be a matter of choice – NOT luck! It will be up to YOU!” Kit Pharo

One of the aspects of calving that I love most is the care and love that good mother cows give to their calves. While human-style hugs with arms aren’t in the picture, snuggles certainly are! All over the field on a quiet, sunny morning, we find calves tucked into the warm embrace of their loving mothers.

We are excited to announce that after more than a year of waiting in the U.S., and the hard work of Australian Red Devon breeders Vic Edwards (VixDevons) and Alison Heap (Gowan Ross Devons), that the semen of Vix Jurassic J76(P) and Gowan Ross Gentleman G82(P) has arrived in the U. S.

Udders and Feet, and “Do-ability” in adverse conditions- that’s what we sought when we visited VixDevons and Gowan Ross! Here’s a photo of Jurassic’s dam- just plain a beautiful working animal.

We will breed many of our current herd of Devon cattle to those bulls this year, and we can’t wait to see these Australian calves on the ground, and see how these award winning Devon genetics do in the wide dry fields of Montana.

We thank Vic and Alison for their generosity in hosting us at their Devon cattle station in January 2015, for opening doors to other Devon stations in their region, and for all the hard work and rigorous selection process that has brought the genetics from their award winning herds here to the U.S. to further enrich the Devon breed which we all love so well.

We have often heard that raising beef increases planetary methane from cattle flatulence.

HOWEVER, more GRASS FED beef often means that grasslands are improved for increased beef production. And, an improved grassland means a pasture that is dense with forage plants.

That means more oxygen, less carbon dioxide, and cleaner air!
Also, many grasslands are too arid, too steep, or just too rugged for farm machinery- so grass-fed beef is often able to be raised on ground that is not suitable for conventional motorized agriculture.

From the steppes of Mongolia and Kazakhstan, to the Serengeti plains of Africa, to the arid grasslands of the American West, GRASS grows BEEF.

Interested in supporting soil that grows grass? Soil that stays covered in perennial forages, which protect against wind and water erosion?

Sabo Ranch Grass Fed Beef, available by the Quarter, Half, or Whole Beef, or Burger by the pound.

Sabo Ranch Devons in Harrison, MT, is pleased to announce that we have some excellent commercial purebred Devon bulls for sale. Devons, known as “the butcher’s breed” for their excellent intramuscular fat, docility, and easy forage-to-meat fattening qualities are highly sought for GRASS FED BEEF operations.

SABO RANCH DEVON BULLS, docile, fertile, and easy keeping, are the answer to a grass-fed operator’s needs for low cost finishing of steers on forage, and easy keeping replacement females.

Our bulls and steers bed on snow, are fed 1st cutting hay, and have no shelter all winter. These boys know open country!

“He has really grown out since you seen him, after servicing the cows last year I put him on the scales and he weighed in at 1110kilos. If you want to look up his revised Breedplan figures on the NZ website his herd number is 170711867. He is now a trait leader for 200 day weight. His calves are some of the best I have ever bred.” Graeme Dyk April 2016

Jan. 2015 News from Graeme Dyk, Oban’s breeder in New Zealand.“You wouldn’t pick Oban as the same bull (from when we saw him in January 2015). He has really filled out and beefed up and when I weighed him last he was 1055 kilograms with still growing to do. Once again last calving, no calves pulled or cows assisted and his calves weighing from 35-45 kilo. Most in the 38-42 kilo range. His calves really stand out in the paddock amongst the rest.” October 2015

TE MAEWA OBAN 867/11 (see pedigree below)

Oban, January 2015This past winter, in January and February, 2015, Mark and I and our 2 boys were pleased to tour numerous Australian and New Zealand Devon studs. Lots of terrific bulls, and we are importing some of them– to be available in the US and Canada! TE MAEWA OBAN has arrived! If all goes well, we’ll also be selling Tapuwae, and VixDevons semen before long, tested for sale in both Canada and the U.S.

Graeme Dyk’s Te Maewa Devon stud is a beautiful farm in the central north island of New Zealand. Steep is not the word- many pastures would qualify as “precipitous”! Yes, Te Maewa’s Devons thrive here, scaling the paddocks, putting on pounds, and producing beautiful, deep bodied Devons with strength, gourmet quality beef, and fertility all in one package.

Two Te Maewa Devon lactating cows. Demonstrating how to keep on weight in steep paddocks, and the beautiful conformation that is consistent in the Te Maewa herd.

Another beautiful Te Maewa cow, showing off the udders which we have selected with Te Maewa Oban’s genetics.

Graeme, with four-wheeler and dog at the right, gathers heifers out of a paddock. Incredible country, and the Devons move about like goats!

Having just tagged and weighed the calf, Graeme and the mother cow chat about its virtues. Graeme keeps ONLY the calm cows!

“The Stud, 120 purebred registered cows still mainly based on Rotokawa genetics, is run as a commercial operation, no pampering, indoor stalls or hard feed etc. All heifers are expected to calve unassisted as two year olds. Birth and performance recording with Breedplan are undertaken and all young stock are carcass scanned and blood tested BVD negative.”

“Cattle are run in management groups to ensure cow breeding values are assessed correctly. The less efficient cows are culled to the works every year, the motto being (Breed with the Best and Cull the Rest). Cows are retired for age at fourteen years if still in the herd. Herd T.B Status is C10.”

“Calving percentages of 100% have been achieved several years but is normally around 96-97%. Calves are weighed, tagged and recorded in the paddock as soon as they are seen and at three or four days old are debudded if needed and shifted further afield with mum to more tree sheltered paddocks. The top weaning weights achieved to date for bull calves is 360kg @ 224 days and heifers 316kg @ 258 days. Winter supplements (hay and baleage) is given to calving cows to enable the feeding of magnesium oxide at a rate of 1 standard bale to 10 cows per day , and older bulls on crop to give them roughage. All young stock fend for themselves mixed in amongst sheep.”